[JURIST] The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] on Tuesday affirmed [PDF text; summary, PDF] the genocide and crime against humanity convictions of former lawmaker and retired colonel Aloys Simba [ICTR case materials; Trial Watch profile]. The appeals chamber also affirmed Simba's 25-year prison sentence [press release]. Simba's defense team challenged his conviction on multiple grounds - including the form of the indictment against him, the court's assessment of evidence, numerous intermediate court decisions, the length of the imposed sentence, and alleged violations of Simba's right to call witnesses - but the appeals chamber dismissed all of his arguments. The ICTR also rejected the prosecution's appeals of Simba's sentence and the dismissal of additional charges against him.

Simba was convicted [JURIST report] in 2005 of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity for supplying weapons and ammunition to Hutu militias in the massacre of Tutsis at Murambi Technical School and Kaduha Parish in the Gikongoro prefecture of Rwanda during what has been called the 100-day massacre [BBC backgrounder] in which over 800,000 Rwandans were killed. The UN News Centre has more.

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